End of an era: is this the end of Manchester City's success?

To paraphrase the great Ernest Hemingway, how did the Manchester City era end? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.

Losing to their rivals from the red half of the city last weekend certainly appeared to fit the second of those two, with a 90th-minute winner from Amad Diallo continuing a "miserable run" of eight defeats in their last 11 games for Pep Guardiola's once imperious side, said The Independent.

"Where did it come from? Where does it end?," the newspaper asked. "Just when City thought they were out of crisis, they pulled themselves back in."

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'Painful to watch'

Pep Guardiola is meant to be the "sorcerer from Santpedor", a coach deemed to "have the answer to every conundrum", said The Telegraph's Oliver Brown. But "for the first time in 16 years" of dominating football, he "looks bereft of answers".

Throughout his history as a manager, Guardiola's teams have been "armour-plated, not stricken with a soft underbelly". The manager has taken pride in an "insistence on being immaculate in every department", which is what makes this latest capitulation so shocking.

What appears worst is that City's "one true genius" now appears "incapable of throwing them a lifejacket", Brown said.

"I thought Manchester City's good times would never end", said the i news site's Simon Kelner. But the team's recent mistakes have "catastrophic consequences", and the "particular version of stage fright or writer's block" we are now witnessing on the pitch is "painful to watch".

Somehow the club's latest loss to Manchester United "feels different", said Football365, as "rarely" have they been "made to look so amateurish". It is abundantly clear this issue "will not simply blow over and fix itself". Consequently, Guardiola's resignation is "more likely than a revival".

The dire situation at the club has been further hampered by an increase in the number of charges levelled against them for alleged breaches of Premier League financial fair play rules, from 115 to 130. The club continues to strenuously deny the allegations, but experts believe the case will "drag on until next season", said The Times.

'New, unforgiving territory'

Although City are undoubtedly "worse than before", they "aren't as bad as they look", said Rob Draper in The Guardian. But because in the newspapers and the dressing room, "emotion trumps data", the confidence of a once-phlegmatic team is now in the doldrums.

Yes, this may be the "end of an era" for this particular iteration of the Manchester City squad, but it might not be the "end of the City epoch as a whole", said FourFourTwo.

Despite having a manager reputed to be the "best in the world", ultimately, "these kinds of issues can happen" to any football team. Even Alex Ferguson's Manchester United went "three straight years without a title" in the early 2000s.

With an "aura of invincibility" now long gone, the only hope for the embattled Manchester City is "serious renewal", said BBC Sport's Phil McNulty. But the project is unlikely to be a "quick fix", instead proving "more obvious – and daunting" with every defeat.

After a "nightmarish conclusion" to a lengthening list of "stunning defeats", the remainder of the season will be Guardiola's moment of truth. While he will "have the finances" to rebuild, one eye must also be kept on his ever-advancing competitors. The club and the manager alike must now tread "new, unforgiving territory".